On approaching the pyramids from Geeza, the first that offers
itself is the largest, standing on a hill of rock, about a hundred
feet higher than the plain below. I t ’s base is buried in the sand,
that now rises in a slope on the north side within two courses
of the entrance, which was formerly midway between the base and
the summit. This, as well as the others, is built of a stone very
little harder than chalk, whitish when scraped, but become by
exposure to the air of a yellowish brown hue, being the same with
the rock on which they stand. I t was originally cased with a
different stone, as appears from the concurrent testimony of ancient
authors, and from this circumstance, that the courses of stone,
which give the appearance of steps externally, are neither uniform
in size, as they vary from the height of near five feet to little more
than two, nor diminishing with regularity, one or other of which
no doubt would have been the case, had it not been intended, that
they should be concealed. A considerable portion of the casing
of the second pyramid still remains at the top, and by the holes
that are visible in many places where it is removed, it has evidently
been destroyed by the hand of man. Many authors say,
this casing is of granite: but it is of a whitish tint very unlike
granite either red or gray; and the summit, which is decayed by
time, for no man can climb up the ashlar facing, is not rounding
off, as granite would decay, but stands up in points. All the other
pyramids are stripped of their facing entirely.
The great pyramid wants about eight feet of it’s height at the
top, many stones having been taken away, or thrown down by
people out of wantonness. Dr. Pococke says, that the upper